The Metropolis Story
by regertz
Summary: Poet/Champion turned reporter/Champion for the second least respectable news organization in Metropolis, William Soames Walthrop is assigned the job of uncovering the mysterious silence of a famed, deceased silent film star.
1. Chapter 1

"The Metropolis Story…"

Archived at the Buffy Rebecca verse, . You might want to take a gander at the Cicelyverse page to get a handle on the Cicely Addams material... .

Disclaimer: All BTVS characters remain the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, and all other owner/creators of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series...

Summary: Poet/Champion turned reporter/Champion (hey, the vampire thing was involuntary) for the second least respectable news organization in Metropolis, William Soames Walthrop is assigned the job of uncovering the secret behind the mysterious silence of a famed, deceased silent film star of the great film inspired by the greatest city on Earth. Both the other reporter/Champion and other reporter/seedy investigator of things mysterious in town hate his guts.

(See the "Metropolis Story" video at the Buffy Rebecca verse, Cicelyverse page, "The Metropolis Story"…)

Metropolis, 2011…

Glorious, gleaming, sky-raking city on a hill to her elite…Hellhole, but beloved hellhole…Whatsit to you, buddy?...To many not so elite…

Some still arguing the Continental Congress of 1776 should never have changed the name from "New York" to end its ties with royalty…

The offices of the least…No, Fox News, Metropolis holds that title now…Second least reputable news outlet in Metropolis…Independent News Service, Metropolis…

And specifically, just outside the large if rather grimy office, of Tony Vincenzo, editor-in-chief…

Where the staff, primarily concerned with monitoring the daily soaring, if disreputably-based ups and sudden, stunning downs-to-earth of their news service, is startled to see Vincenzo in a benevolent mood…

"There he is!...My boy!..." Stepping forward with widely open arms for a dangerously powerful hug…

Ah…But look whom it's aimed at…Collective glare…

The new fair-haired…Quite literally, too…Boy…

Walthrop…The Brit…Though some still insist the accent's either phony or Australian…

A few incredible stories of the city's underbelly…Impossible stories, many would say…Though until disproven, far too lucrative to turn down…And the punk kid is on top…

And according to Harry in HR…Such HR as we got…The kid's so-called credentials from LA and London stink like a 3 months old overfed baby's diaper…

And we don't mean the age of the kid…

The little, if surprisingly tough…If the report from Karl…Our good, old, beloved Karl Kolchak…

Kolchak from his desk frowning equally at the collective staff eyeing him sympathetically and Vincenzo…

Since when did this collection of freaks, geeks, and news media losers ever give me the time of…See Lou's on his way further down…Said new-fired Dobbs passing down the corridor of desks wanly, bottle and box of things in hand…Told Tony the guy was ruined goods and could never handle an objective column…That "Lou's view is the real America's view" crazy rant was to be expected…They say at Fox he claimed he had a direct line to Murdoch's ear…

Guess everyone knew that but Rupert…

Though the real story…Awaiting confirmation…Involves the Missus…Or "Tiger girl" as Lou called her…

Or so Dobbsie claimed…And a few of my sources at Imitation News backed him up…

Still, is grating to see this kid…Whom I trained on his first weeks here…Grabbing what little gratification and glory is to be had here…He eyes young Walthrop…The young man (right…) clearly as embarrassed as all round but Vincenzo and Margaret, the pale, gentle and clearly smitten receptionist were annoyed…

I mean, one must give a world-saving Champion who won back his soul on his own cahones his due...I guess…And his work doesn't fully suck as much he does at certain times…

But if I hadn't owed Liam Angel a…Well, several favors…For those times back in LA…

And come to think of it, I did go a long way out for the other one…He eyes gentle, dark-haired, pale-skinned Margaret…Who smiles warmly back…He briefly returning one of his very few reserved smiles…

Though, given her history…Who could turn down the chance to help that poor kid…?

"Our brightest star!..." Vincenzo bubbles, rocking the embraced, embarrassed Walthrop… "Another scoop yesterday…We even beat out the Planet!..."

On some crazy story that alien invaders had latched on to the minds of the Mayor's and Police Commissioner's wives and they were about to hatch open a nest of tiny jellyfish body-snatchers?...Various staff members eyed each other…

And I put him on that story, Tony?...Remember?...The one you rejected?...Kolchak glares at Vincenzo, still overflowing with the milk of human greediness…

'Course, a downside is potentially there, given the two ladies are in the hospital in comas…Not so bad, if one knew them before…But crippling to our dear Mayor whose divorce plans must now remain in permanent holding pattern, thanks to our ace and heroic reporter who managed to not only save the city and the dear possessed ladies but prevented our noble boys-in-blue from shooting the dear girls to ribbons…

Almost a pity in some ways…The Commish told me he'd never had better sex or a more loving relationship with the Missus than when a malevolent alien jellyfish's tentacles were buried deep within her cerebral cortex…

"And Karl, too…" Margaret suddenly called from her desk, clapping his way…

Hmmn… Vincenzo looked over at the image of past glories and disasters…Oh, yeah…Good ole Karl…

"Right, great idea putting this guy on the trail, Karl…" brief wave…Followed by renewed hug… "Oh, you wonderful kid…!"

Kolchak gave a second, unprecedented in one day, smile to dear beaming Margaret…

Lord, to think two years that sweet kid was a deranged two hundred year old killer…

"My responsibility…" Angel had told him…

And quickly washed his hands of her after restoring her to Humanity and giving her a new name and new memories of a calm and peaceful life that only resembled the human life she'd lost when he'd…

"But now…" Vincenzo had relaxed his grip and allowed Walthrop to escape the fatal embrace…

Kolchak's and a fair number of colleagues' ears perked up…

All, all-too-familiar with the sudden down-to-earth at INS…

"We have to discuss a few…Matters…Karl!..." he looked over to Kolchak…

"In my office…"

Kolchak reluctantly rising…His rumpled attire drawing the usual looks…

Stay on the job all night sometime, pantywaists, and you might look like a reporter…He sauntered to the office and followed the other two…Catching Margaret's apprehensive glance at Walthrop…

Poor kid…

But perhaps some memories never quite die…Or can be physically purged…

Gotta give Walthrop credit though…He's not taken advantage…And I accept that any threats I initially made on that subject were not likely to discourage him, should he wish to trifle with the young lady's affections…

Then again, may be the kid's gay…Always had my doubts about Liam and he sure seemed obsessed with this one…Could be the long-term effect of vampirism, oughta have Miss Emily look it up sometime in the library…

He entered the office…

"Sit down, Karl…" Vincenzo, already seated behind his littered desk, pointed to the less-comfortable chair…Walthrop likewise already seated in the more comfortable of the two…

"Trouble in Paradise, Tony?..." Kolchak took a seat… Nodding at Walthrop, who gave a sheepish shrug back… Look, boss…Not my idea…

"Nah…Well…" Vincenzo looked at each man… "We did get a little flak from the Mayor's office for our 'unbelievable assertions'…And a request for any information we might have on the aliens' physiology…" wink… "But the reason I brought you in is that I've decided…With a little help from corporate above…That our ace ought to try a less…Current…Field…Just for a bit…"

"Mayor Lindenquist upset over having to hold his dear wife's comatose hand for the cameras for the rest of his political life…?" Kolchak suggested…

"That didn't improve his attitude toward the people who accused him of allowing a terrorist, if alien terrorist, plot to destroy and enslave the city to take shape under his roof…" Vincenzo, drily…

"Pity it couldn't have ended with a big and well-photographed funeral…Followed, after a reasonable mourning period, by a very happy wedding…" Kolchak smiled…

"That was a shame…" Vincenzo eyed Walthrop…

"I couldn't let them gun the poor woman down…" William interjected…

"No, I guess not…" Vincenzo perked up again… "And in any case, then the Mayor would've hushed everything up and probably tried to pin his wife's death on you… And we got the scoop…Left White and his Planet in the dirt…"

"Still, it leaves us here…Corporate feels you're a white-hot property, Walthrop…But a little too-white-hot right now…They want a little 'cooling-off' period…Give the Mayor a chance to see this could still be an asset…As long as she remains in the coma…"

"So…Am I suspended…Laid-off?..." Walthrop stared…

"No…Not at all…There's an important assignment that has your name on it…Just not so current as some of the stuff you've been doing…It's right up your and Kolchak's…As your editor…alley…A little history, a little mystery...Glamour…" Vincenzo raised a solemn finger… "And best of all, some travel…You're from Europe, right?..."

"Depends on which Englishman you talk to…" William, drily…

Travel?...To Europe?...Kolchak stared…

Just how angry is the Mayor?...And since when did INS corporate ever spring for…?

Oh…Right…

Good ole Liam intervening once more…No doubt…

Well, so long as my protégé has a good Angel looking out for him, why shouldn't one Kolchak also reap a bit of the golden crop…

"Just what is this one, Tony?...And do I get formal promotion to assistant editor?...Before we leave for Europe…" hard stare…

Nonchalant return from Vincenzo…

So, It is Liam footing the expense bills…Nice…

"It concerns the history of the film that took its inspiration from this great city…" Vincenzo, expansively… "Naturally when the time comes for research in Europe I want the full team there in support of our boy…And yes, but no raise in pay…"

"I figured…Accepted…With an office…" Kolchak, firmly…

"An office?...Well…I guess we could have that one in back fumigated now that Dobbs is out…"

"Margaret as my help…She's been looking for more to do…"

"You're killing me here, Karl…The man who nurtured you all these years, accepted those crazy stories, protected you…" Vincenzo frowned…Leaning forward in chair…

"Made a bundle off me and my 'crazy stories' and hasn't given me a promised raise or office in 20 years…"

"What can I say?…You know how the news business is these days…"

"Sir?…" Walthrop cut in… "About this story…?"

"Right, right…Ok, you know the film… 'Metropolis'…Our own beautiful name for our own beautiful city…Was recently restored…"

One might say that if one hadn't seen the original screening in 1927 as I did…William eyed Vincenzo…Though they got most of it back…

"There's a mystery associated with this film, boys…And to celebrate…"

Exploit…Kolchak corrected inwardly…

"…the history of our city's ties with its greatest portrayal in film, I want my ace team to solve it…" Vincenzo beamed…

Offices of the leading Metropolis news organ, the Daily Planet…

Just outside the office of the editor-in-chief…Rather magnificent in comparison to those of his somewhat disreputable rival at INS…

Newspaper flung from door…Several staffers nearby glance and note that it is a copy of that INS ragsheet…A picture of the Mayor and his wife and the Commissioner of Police and his wife, each wife with what appeared to be a giant glob of jello covering their heads…The women standing on a trampled city… "Conspiracy of the Century Foiled!" the blaring headline…

One curious staffer hastily grabbed the paper up, glancing nervously at the office door, then scanning the cover page…

William S. Walthrop on the byline…The staffer, hearing an approaching storm, fled, dropping paper back onto floor…

"Kent!..." harsh cry from open door of said office… "My office!..."


	2. Chapter 2

"The Metropolis Story…"

Archived at the Buffy Rebecca verse, . You might want to take a gander at the Cicelyverse page to get a handle on the Cicely Addams material... .

Disclaimer: All BTVS characters remain the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, and all other owner/creators of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series...

Summary: Poet/Champion turned reporter/Champion (the vampire thing was involuntary) for the second least respectable news organization in Metropolis, William Soames Walthrop is assigned the job of uncovering the mysterious silence of a famed, deceased silent film star of the great film inspired by the greatest city on Earth. Both the other reporter/Champion and other reporter/seedy investigator of things mysterious in town hate his guts.

Part II…

"Mr. White?..."

Raising his glasses with a grunt, editor-in-chief Perry White regarded his supplicant…

Clark Kent, ace reporter for the leading Metropolis news organ, the Daily Planet, an amazing example of the power of suggestion…It being impossible for any objective person to find this hulking, handsome fellow as anything less than "Don Draper"-level material, yet all acquainted with him accepting the young reporter's self-portrayal as a rather mild-mannered, rather ingenuous, even geeky sort, though for all that a brilliant and rising journalist. All except a very few in the know, either through love, friendship, or enmity…

Mr. White not being one of them…He frowned at the nervous young man…Still wet behind the ears for all his efforts…Though undeniably a promising reporter…The most promising of the current lot…

Not that that was saying much in this age of Internet twaddle and fluff passing as journalism…Just to find a reporter willing to do some leg work and able to write a coherent sentence now seemed to be taken as the Second Coming…

And, for the moment, this particular cub had failed him…At least in anticipation of the enemy's efforts if not in the work itself…

"I assume you know we were scooped by INS again, Kent?..." he eyed the reporter…

God, get some contacts one of these days, kid…He regarded the heavy-framed glasses the young man now fumbled with…

"I've heard that, sir…On the alien conspiracy story?..."

"That's the one…" White glared… "Nice of you to read up on it now that's too late…Kent?...You are aware that it's a part…A big part…Of a good reporter's job to keep up on what the competition is doing…"

"It doesn't seem like much of a real story, sir…" Kent tried…

"The Mayor's wife…The Commissioner's wife…Both possessed and used by the terrorists, nearly adding their husbands and half the city to their cause, left in comas?...That doesn't sound like a story to you…?"

"Well, sir…Aliens?...Jellyfish puppet masters controlling public officials' family members?...I mean, it sounds like most of the stuff INS puts out…"

"Except that the facts remain…The two ladies were affected…The city was in danger…And one Walthrop not only saved the day and these two prominent ladies but scooped us!..."

"Well, the Mayor's office denies the story…And NASA hasn't said a word since they collected specimens…"

"Kent?...NASA collected specimens…People saw them collecting specimens…People saw the Mayor's wife demand Metropolis surrender to their kind…That is a story, whether the government admits to it or not…Kid, what do I have to do to teach you the ropes of this business?..."

"Sorry, Mr. White…Do you want me to follow up?..."

"Is there still a story?...Kent?..."

"Well…The two women are still in comas, sir…"

"And…?"

"And NASA and the mayor's office haven't admitted to the cause of their behavior and injuries…"

"And…Therefore…" falsely patient smile…Wave of hand…

"There's still a story…" Kent nods…

"Very good…" frown… "Now, don't you think someone from our institution should follow-up on your fine intuitive stroke?..."

"Uh, yes, sir…"

"Wonderful…But it's not you…"

"Sir?..."

"Walthrop, Kent…Walthrop is your competition…Olsen or Lois can do the follow-up, under your overall supervision as chief reporter…But your task is to keep your eye on the competition while your people see what juice is left in the original story…I want you on Walthrop 24/7…Where he goes, what he does…"

"But…There are other stories to ferret out, Mr. White…"

"Oh?...Such as…?"

"Well…The city council scandal…"

"Did my city reporter take a vacation?...Kent…If you find the story of a lifetime along the way, you call me and I'll put Lois on Walthrop's tail…Until then, you are his shadow…He doesn't breathe without Clark Kent knowing about it, cell in hand to report it to this paper?..."

But he doesn't breathe…Kent sighs inwardly…

"Do you understand me, Kent?..."

"Yes, sir…"

"Excellent…You can go now, Kent…"

"Yes…Uh…Thanks, sir…"

"Door, Kent…"

"Yes, sir…" closes door…

Lovely…Following that blonde freak of nature about the city till God knows when?...On stories that I'm embarrassed to think could ever end up in the Planet…?

Even if some are true…

While real news is left to Lois, Jimmy, and even those idiots at Fox?...

Geesh, if I'd just been able to confirm a vampiral nature at our first contact that night and killed him then and there before his friend got word out about him and his darned soul…Instead now I not only have him competing with me on protecting the city from Evil, he's my up-and-coming rival in the news wars…

And of course Lois likes him and that swing between sensitive and swaggering manner…And that #$#! accent…And that leather jacket…

God, of all rivals…Another vampire hero with soul…Who lives in Metropolis, thanks to that brooding idiot in LA…

And soul he recovered on his own…For love…Even I can't top that…

"Hey, Clark…Perry have anything to tell you?..." young photographer/cub reporter Jimmy Olsen rushes up to him…A troubled Kent not aware of his presence at first…

Thank God Lois doesn't know anything about his other worldly side…

I think…

And he does have a girl…Though…Sorry, Mom…

"Hmmn? …Oh, hi, Jimmy…"

"Anything from on high?..."

Damn it…It's unrequited…They say…

Lovely…A poet hero who freed himself from a dreadful curse for love of a woman who doesn't return his affections…Which he nobly accepts…

And he's a first-rate reporter…Even if he works for the second least reputable news outlet in town…

Damn it…

Sorry, Mom…

"Yes…Uh, Perry wants you and Lois to follow up on the INS story about the Mayor's wife…The aliens?..."

"The mind-controlling jellyfish?...Really?...Lois won't be too happy about that, Clark…You know they were running her for ten minutes when we all went into that warehouse after Walthrop phoned you…"

"It's how he wants it, Jimmy…Not for us to question…Besides, the aliens or whatever they were, are dead…So you can tell Lois she doesn't need to worry…"

"Worry about what?..." a female voice, silky in tone yet firm…

"Tea, William?..." Margaret offered…Setting down a tray on the battered desk…

"Yes, thanks…" William smiled, taking the proffered cup…Repressing the urge to stare into that sweet face…Just to see if anything…

No…For God and poor Dru's sake, leave it be…She's fine…There are no clouds there, apart from the normal misery of human existence…Don't argue yourself into becoming her second Angelus by killing with good intentions…Let her be…

"And coffee for you, Karl…" Kolchak nodding, with what was for him, gallant pleasantry…Switching from leaning in his new chair at dangerous angle to sitting up…

"Thanks, Maggie girl…"

Of course there is that mash on me…That's a bit worrisome…Will thought…

But it's only natural, really…She liked me enough to choose me 120 years ago, why shouldn't her human self find me attractive…

Just have to hope Angel's docs and occults got everything right…Before he sent her off into the world to sink or swim on her human lonesome…

What a guy…He and Buffy should open a "tough love" clinic together...

"All set?..." Margaret smiled at him… "I know you prefer just lemon…"

"Yes, please…And fine…Though if you've any of those cookies you made yesterday…"

"Always…" she beamed… "Just a mo…Karl?..."

"Just leave me the plate, kiddo…I'll clean you out…" he waved…

Dru and her perfect teas…Well, at least Miss Edith is no longer invited…Nor a bleeding corpse or turned victim…

"Will?..." Will blinked at Margaret eyeing him…

"Thanks, love…" he took the plate and set it down in front of Kolchak…Who as good as his word, promptly grabbed three large cookies…

Margaret hesitating…Clearly hoping for a bit more from him…

Oh, love…Not a good idea, even if my heart weren't elsewhere engaged…

Bit too cruel, bastards…Will thought, addressing the unresponsive Powers That Be…

"Thanks, Maggie…Keep Tony and the other wolves away, would you?..." Kolchak addressed her…She nodding with smile, closing door as she left…

"Rather wish Liam had thought to provide a boyfriend…" Will noted, staring at the closed door…

"No interest?..." Kolchak eyed him…

"Come on, Karl…" he frowned back… "You know as well as Liam did when he arranged my gig here, I love her, in the best of ways…But even if I felt that particular sort of feeling for her, I wouldn't endanger her happiness by pressing things…"

One thing to do a quickie with Harmony, career girl vamp and Wolfram Hart mole in our ranks, to check out the ole equipment…Quite another to selfishly risk the sanity and happiness of a…Yes, a dear and innocent, friend…

"She'll find someone, a sweet kid like that…" Kolchak noted…

Hopefully, at last, a decent someone, if she wishes…Though…Will thought…I can at least be glad the genuine feeling was there for a time…I can try to tell myself my other self helped, not tormented, in Just one case…

Until many years later…

"Ok…So?...What do we have?..." Assistant editor/chief reporter Kolchak, rather pleased with his new chair, (even if it was thirty years old and probably rat-gnawed, judging from the marks), leaned back to eye 'his' ace reporter…

At last I get a bit of recognition, as well as an office and the first new (to me) furniture I've seen in 20 years…

And, even the good chance of perhaps scooping my own star reporter…

After all only one of us can go out in daylight for all his restored soul jazz…

"Our subject…" William pulled out a glossy studio portrait of a young blonde-haired actress in 20s era dress… "Ms. Brigitte Helm, actress, star…"

"Nice…" Kolchak nodded at the portrait…

Will looking at the portrait carefully…

You know…I never quite realized…

Not exactly Summers, but…

"And here she is at work in her greatest triumph…As Maria/Futura in 'Metropolis'…" Will pulls out two more photos from the heavy envelope he'd placed on Kolchak's battered (but mine, all mine) desk…

Ms. Helm in heavy, plain dress looking solemnly at camera, an earnestly soulful expression…

And Ms. Helm in same dress, slyly leering at camera…

"She's good…Or was…" Kolchak eyed the shots… "Good and evil in one performance, eh?..."

"More than that, Karl…She played Hitler in several scenes…Before he was Hitler…Based on what the director, Lang had seen of him…When she addresses the workers as false Maria to rile them up…Unbelieveable…"

"Hmmn…Ok…Take your word for it…You saw her, after all…"

"I was on set once during production…And I saw the premiere…" Will nodded…

"And now the mystery…After 'Metropolis' makes the kid a star at 19, she dominates German film until 1933 when the Nazis take over and by 1935, she's so fed up with their tentacles round the German film industry that she gives it all up and leaves…"

"Worried about Goebbels' tentacles too, I'd say…And she had married a Jewish doctor…And stuck by him…" Will, tentatively taking up a photo…Leering false Maria…

Saint and monster, all in one…Those lessons poor ole Dru gave her in that dungeon certainly worked…

"Brave girl…" shrug… "But…What's the mystery?...She took her husband and ran for Switzerland and never looked back…"

"But she never worked in films again…Never agreed to a single interview…Not even long after the war when Lang and 'Metropolis' were considered master and masterpiece…" Will tapped the photo before him…

"And Tony Vincenzo figures this is a mystery that's worth pulling his only worthwhile reporting team off real news?..."

"I think he figures it'll keep us out of trouble…Especially if we have to do the research in Europe…Still…It is a mystery…" William pondered the photographs spread out before him on the desk…

God…What is this fatal attraction blondes have for me?...That certain type of blonde…

Not twins but they could be sisters…

Kolchak, staring as well…

"You meet this girl?...Back then…?"

"Yes…" William nodded… "The time I visited the set…And ten years later…"

"Any?…You know…" shrug… "Anything I should know about?..."

"We didn't shag if that's what you mean…"

"But you really do think there's a mystery to this?..."

"There was…" hard stare…

"Slayers don't give up their profession that often…Even when they're movie stars…And I've never heard tell of one who was allowed to retire and live to ripe old age…Their Council puts Humanity's safety well ahead of any regard for the life of an individual Slayer…"

"Except…?" Kolchak eyed the photos…

"Except…" Will touched the nearest photo gently…


	3. Chapter 3

"The Metropolis Story…"

Archived at the Buffy Rebecca verse, . You might want to take a gander at the Cicelyverse page to get a handle on the Cicely Addams material... .

Disclaimer: All BTVS characters remain the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, and all other owner/creators of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series...

Summary: Poet/Champion turned reporter/Champion (the vampire thing was involuntary) for the second least respectable news organization in Metropolis, William Soames Walthrop is assigned the job of uncovering the mysterious silence of a famed, deceased silent film star of the great film inspired by the greatest city on Earth. Both the other reporter/Champion and other reporter/seedy investigator of things mysterious in town hate his guts.

Part III…

Offices of the Daily Planet Building, Metropolis…Office of Clark Kent…

And on the desk of said Mr. Kent…

"Me…Working under…You?..." the silky purr of Lois Lane was now a rasping lathe…

"And me…" Jimmy Olsen, standing by the desk, happily chimed in, cluelessly chipper about the new assignment…

Uh…He caught the full force of the Lane stare…Kent, watching, grateful for the deflection of her attention, involuntarily nodding in admiration…

She must have some Kryptonian in her family somewhere…

"…Uh…Working under Clark, I mean…With…Er, under…You, Miss Lane…I mean…Under your…"

"Yeah…" she cut him off…Returning to the prime target…

"Perry put me under you…To work on this stupid alien story…?"

"Well, Lois…It was a real story…"

Given a few days ago you were calling yourself Klamtos and demanding I provide sex on a daily basis else the city would be destroyed…And I think you were male at that…

"It was a real story…Now it's nonsensical crap...No more believable than tales about Lex and caped supermen battling it out for supremacy…"

"But…" Jimmy began, puzzled… "It was…"

"If you mean… 'Aren't we in the business of uncovering and publishing the news for the public right to know?', Olsen…That's crap if we're number two on the story…" Lois frowned at him briefly…Returning to the increasingly hapless Kent…

Why didn't Jor-el or Mom ever teach me how to deal with women like this?...And why the damn hell…Sorry, sorry Mom…Is Walthrop so good at it?...

"This is old news, Clark…Put Jimmy on it, with some intern…I want breaking news…I'm entitled…"

"Lois…I know you're still upset about what happened…" Clark began, diplomatically…

"It goes with the territory…I'm upset, you idiot, by being cut out of real news by a less-experinenced reporter who happens to be cozy with Perry White…"

Hmmn…Jimmy blinked…

"Now just a minute there, Lois…" Kent began…

"I'm going to see him…I was doing news while you were still plowing fields in Hicksville…"

"Smallville…"

"Same difference…Wait…" Lois paused, eyeing him…

"What will you be doing while Jimmy and I are on the trail of additional dead jellyfish from another world?...And more important, what is Walthrop up to?..."

"I don't know…As to Walthrop…As to me…I'll be trying to find out what he's up to…"

"That's a job for me…" Lois said, coolly…Shifting her legs slightly…Kent eyeing…

"See…" she gave a coy smile… "Even you're a sucker for it…Walthrop's putty in my hands…"

A little too soft putty…Unless he suddenly loses that soul…In which case I hope you enjoyed the time you were wearing a maid's outfit in Lex's lair…At least you'd never have a problem with your skin losing its pale hue in strong sun…

She'd jumped off Kent's desk… "Wait, Lois!..." Kent called…

"Yeah?..." she paused, turning…

"Perry seemed pretty set on this…I really think he intended it as a step-up for you…You're getting the real story, I'm just getting stuck with following the competition…"

"Sure…" she eyed him… "Well, consider this my thank-you for getting Superman to get that alien jello out of my brain…Ok?..."

"Lois…I don't want to pull rank but…"

Uh-oh…Jimmy backed away at the ominous words…And at Lois' cold return stare…

"I'll just be leaving…Let me know how you want me to handle things, Clark…Miss Lane…"

"Pull, what?...Farmboy…?" Lois fumed…Jimmy carefully but quickly passing her…Pausing at the door…

"Uh…Open or…?"

The door slammed in his face at a kick from Lois…

Right…Closed…

Well, gotta go call Mom and tell her the good news…

"There…That's it, Miss Emily…" William nodded to the elderly librarian of the INS film archive…

Librarian…And, as Kolchak had only learned one dark night in LA while facing the usual gristly fate at the hands of some particularly camera/video/photo/heck, even pencil pad notes-shy demons…Retired Watcher…A white-haired, short woman of still vigorous aspect…Perhaps a bit heavier than in her younger days…Anything but grandmotherly in her stern appearance…

More grand-nunnery, Will liked to note to himself…

Or at least, so she and her Council insisted…Though neither Kolchak nor his "protégé" of sorts quite bought that she'd by chance managed to wind up librarian of the only news service besides the now defunct Wacky World News to cover the occult with some accuracy, however faint, harboring one of the world's two currently fully-souled vampires and a former vampiress of considerable psychic power, now restored to Humanity through the generous on William's part and to be expected…Long expected..on Angel's…Refusal of the blessing of the Shanshu prophecy…

"Brigitte Helm…Yes…" Miss Emily nodded at the picture on microfilm… "A beautiful girl…Wonderful actress…Very good at doing the slut as that evil robot, too…And a tremendous Slayer…" she eyed William… "But you of all people know that, William…"

"Indeed I do…" he nodded… "Not till Buffy did I run into or hear of another like her…"

"But your people let her quit?..." Karl asked, innocently as he could… "That's a bit unusual for your organization, isn't it…?"

"My former organization, Karl…" reproving tone… "It was, but there were special circumstances…"

"As in, she was too hard to kill?..." Kolchak asked…

"So…You two didn't really want my help in collecting microfilm archives?..." she eyed him then William… "Just wanted to pump the old biddy for whatever would come up?..." she gave a sweet smile…

"Miss Emily…" Karl, wagging finger... "You know we consider you an invaluable resource…And we needed everything the archives have…"

"Which isn't much…" she noted… "Everything here is what Mr. Vincenzo already gave you…"

"Love…" Will sighed… "You know you have us dead to rights… But come on, the lady is long dead…The participants are almost dead or Undead…Surely it can't violate too much to tell us what you know…"

"Actually, it's quite all right…And if you'd just asked instead of acting like the Hardy Boys trying to get it out of me, I'd've told you right out…Another Slayer was arranged and Ms. Helm agreed to come back to the fight if needed…Since there was some danger to her husband and family from the Nazis and she could have been turned against us, we were actually a bit relieved to retire her and have a new Slayer from Bengal…"

"'Arranged'?..." Will asked, incredulous… "Just like that?..."

"No, it involved a lot more than 'that'…" Miss Emily sighed… "For the sake of her husband and family, Ms. Helm agreed to die…Temporarily…It's not unheard of…" she eyed the startled faces… "We've had to do it once or twice before…Generally when a Slayer was certain to be overwhelmed by the forces confronting her and needed support we couldn't give…Or was unlikely to complete her assigned duty owing to…" she eyed William…

"…Problems…"

"I.e, me…And others like me?...Whom the Slayer of the day was less than enthused about killin'?..."

"It can be hard to kill one's mother…Or lover…" Miss Emily noted quietly… "And sometimes the Watcher on hand isn't able to do the job…"

Cut to shot of a temple in the high Himalayas…To a chamber, ornamented by beautiful if vicious-looking sculptures and reliefs of various brutal gods and goddesses, where a young and lovely Miss Emily in tailored suit lay pinned on temple stone floor by a raving beast…Barely held back by the cross in her hand… "Rekha!..." cry to the horrified young woman in sari with stake in hand…

"Malini!..." Rekha cried to the beast who took human form, that of a lovely young woman in rags… "Rekha…I love you…Don't let her kill me!..." the lovely young 'woman' now holding down Miss Emily stared at the trembling Slayer…

"Rekha!..It isn't her, girl…Malini is dead!..." Miss Emily cried, struggling to free herself while keeping the cross in Malini's face…

Malini sneering… "It's you who dies tonight, British…Watcher scum, imperialist!...Rekha, kill her!...She wants you dead so another Westerner can be Slayer!...You love me, help me!...Aruggh…!" holy water from a vial pulled stealthily from pocket splashed at the 'girl''s lovely face, burning it…Miss Emily broke free and rolled over and up to a standing position…

"I can't…Miss Emily…" Rekha shook head…Malini eyeing her with cold smile…

"Come, Rekha…Love…Be with me…As we always were, back on the streets…" she hissed…Staring…

Miss Emily grabbing up the crossbow from the floor which she'd dropped earlier…Taking aim…

"You still think that will hurt me?..." Malini chuckled…Standing with arms out… "I'm no mere vampire, British…The destroyer Kali lives in me…But, please…Take your best, again…"

"Miss Emily!..." Rekha cried… "Do as we said!..."

Emily fired, striking Rekha…Malini whirling…

What?...She turned back… "Well…" cold smile… "My thanks…Silly British fool?...Do you think I'll wait for the new…"

"Right here, Miss…" A voice in English, slight German accent… "Margot Weisz…At your service…" A small, slight, brown-haired girl in blouse and skirt stepped through the door of the temple chamber…Wielding stake…

"Poor Rekha knew she could never kill you, Malini…" Emily sighed…

"Yes…" the old woman brushed off a clouded look, regarding the two men… "It's been done…But Ms. Helm was a bit more fortunate than some…Even your Ms. Summers had a much harder time, Mr. Walthrop…"

"I see…" Will nodded… "So, she died, briefly…Like my Buffy...And a new Slayer came into the picture, and then…Off to Switzerland with the endangered hubs…But why avoid talking about the old career?...She wasn't in hiding…Was it really just embarrassment of an overly proper wife and mother about her risqué past?..."

"I wasn't her Watcher, William…Sorry…"

"Meaning…Her Watcher?..."

"Might logically have a few more details to add…As would any of her friends still living if any…" Miss Emily gave a rather sardonic look…

"Is her Watcher…?"

"Unless he became a vampire or otherwise immortal or near so, I would say dead as a doornail…" Miss Emily smiled… "But if you're asking are there records?…Of course, in London, at the archives…"

"The archives…Destroyed by dear ole Caleb…" Will sighed…

"Who?..." Kolchak asked…

"Mass murdering serial killer preacher…Page 10, April 15th, 2001…" Miss Emily offered…Pointing to a microfilm cassette… "He became the First Evil's chief minister and agent…Mr. Walthrop's Slayer killed him after he destroyed the Council's old Antiquarian Hall with a bomb…" Kolchak put the cassette in, turning pages…

"A real charmer…" he nodded, reading story…

"That he was…" Will agreed… "A fitting dance partner for Angelus himself…"

"But he failed to destroy the main archive…" Miss Emily smiled… "We weren't foolish enough to have everything in such an unsecure location…It's intact…When you go to Europe, you can arrange permission through Chairman Giles…I'm sure he'll agree…After all, it's not a current issue…"

"Course he may arrange my death while I tour the vaults…" Will noted… "To spare his spiritual daughter any grief on my part…"

"I couldn't say, being retired…" Miss Emily smiled… "Though, William…If I may give you a bit of warning…?"

The two men eyed her…

"He's not the one I'd be afraid of…"

"The Metropolis Story…"

Archived at the Buffy Rebecca verse, . You might want to take a gander at the Cicelyverse page to get a handle on the Cicely Addams material... .

Disclaimer: All BTVS characters remain the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, and all other owner/creators of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series...

Summary: Poet/Champion turned reporter/Champion (the vampire thing was involuntary) for the second least respectable news organization in Metropolis, William Soames Walthrop is assigned the job of uncovering the mysterious silence of a famed, deceased silent film star of the great film inspired by the greatest city on Earth. Both the other reporter/Champion and other reporter/seedy investigator of things mysterious in town hate his guts.

Part IV…

Normally, of course, Perry White, editor-in-chief of the greatest daily in the greatest city of the greatest state of the greatest nation on Earth would have glared down upon the rebellious underling frowning in dress suit and heels before him, rocking a bit in her agitation as her obviously gutless companion …Supposed superior for the assignment…Stood nervously next to her, looking rather anxious to sink through the floor as he sweated in suit and tie …And venting wrath upon said underling smited her, by great Caesar's ghost…

But…Lois did have a point…And Kent, that wuss…Was clearly not taking the situation in hand and preventing it from reaching the editor-in-chief's desk…

"You don't want to do the follow-up on the alien story…The biggest news story in town…?" White opted for relatively friendly persuasion…Laced with a relatively modest degree of his trademark sarcasm…

"It's yesterday's news, Perry…" Lois literally putting sore foot down…Damn these new shoes…I'm sure it was the alien who bought them, but since they're beautiful…And non-returnable, no way am I not getting use of them…

"It's whatever day of the week's news I say it is, Miss Lane…" White, coldly… "Kent?..." He eyed Clark grimly… "Anything to contribute?...Given I put this assignment in your apparently incapable hands…?"

"If I'm not valuable enough to this paper…" Lois began…Waving hands…

"Lois…Mr. White…" Clark began…

"All right…Enough!..." White cut him off…Bringing even Lois to a stand-still with a heavy bang of fist on desk…

"Miss Lane…No one threatens this paper…Unless they're temporarily possessed by aliens…Do we understand each other?..." he eyed Lois who blinked a bit…Ummn…

"If you are having an emotional problem with this story due to your tragic personal involvement, I could still see my way to forgetting this incident…Once…"

Ummn…

"I'm sure that Lois…" Clark began…

"I can speak for myself, Clark…" Lois snapped…

"Yes?..." White eyed her…

"Maybe a little emotional trouble, sir…" slightly abject look…

"All right…" White nodded, calm tone… "Perhaps I was wrong to push for you on this…It's a valid argument, given your personal involvement…Kent, can you find someone else to help Olsen with the follow-up…?"

"Yes, sir…I think so…"

"Good…Well, then…In that case, perhaps it might be better for Miss Lane to work with you regarding the special assignment I gave you…And for her to do a lighter schedule with maybe a bit of counseling…" smile…

What is he doing?...Kent, Lane…

"And…If you felt up to it, as you do your other work…Maybe an in-depth story on how it felt to be possessed by the alien terrorists…Perhaps you could even do an interview with the mayor's wife or the Commissioner's, if they ever come out of their comas…?"

Hmmn…Clark nodded…That sounds…

…Like he just told me to do exactly what he wanted me to when he put me on this one…Lois finished the thought…

And put me on with Clark to watch Walthrop…At the same time…While making it seem like he was doing me a favor?...

…And cutting any ground under her regarding using the alien possession thing to get out of the assignment…Clark added to his own exactly similar thought…

"I'm glad we're all better now…" White beamed, benevolently… "Kent, would you stay just a bit longer…Miss Lane…" White nodded to her…

"Please close the door as you go…Thanks…Gretchen?..." he called out to his secretary in the outer office… "Set up an appointment with our counseling staff for Lois, will you?..."

"Kent…?" he eyed Clark…

"Sir?..."

Door closed…

"If I ever give you a supervisory position again in this life…And you let a member of your team by-pass you to come to me…And follow her in like a whipped puppy, begging for me to resolve the situation…Do I have to go further, Mr. Kent?..."

"No…Sir…" Clark nodded, swallowing…

"Good…You and Lois are coreporters on this…And if she does well and you don't…We don't need two Jimmy Olsens at the Planet, Kent…Get me?"

"Got you, sir…"

"That's wonderful…" smile… "Out…"

"Hello…Hello, is this?...Hello…Sorry, the connection on my cell is not that good…Is this England?...The Royal…Hello?...Yes, is this the Royal Society of Anti…Yes?...Great, ma'am…Might I speak to Chairman Giles?...Hello?...Yes…Might I…Oh, thanks…Yes, I'll hold…"

Will looked over to Kolchak, behind his desk, comfortably leaning back in new, battered, chair and Margaret, seated near him…Finally… "I think I've got his secretary…Just a mo…Lord, isn't this a news agency?...We don't have phones?…"

"Not for calls to England, we don't, boy…" Kolchak grinned… "This is INS, not the Metropolis Daily Planet…"

"Thank God the bills on this still go to Wolfram-Hart, LA…" Will sighed… "Oh, hello?...Yes, William Soames Walthrop…For Chairman Giles, yes…William…Soames…S..O…A…Oh, bollocks…Just tell Giles it's Spike…"

Pause…Lengthy pause…

Margaret eyed Kolchak who shrugged…

"Rupert…Yes, it's me…But being a human soul, if not physically human, I would prefer my real name?…William or Mr. Walthrop is fine, Mr. Giles…Oh…Thanks…And congratulations on your chairmanship…Very well deserved…Yes, we did…Everyone of the Slayers who came was very much appreciated, thanks…What?...No…No, I didn't…Angel and I were prisoners and pretty much unconscious in the Partners' torture cell until two Slayers brought us in…Yes, quite true on that score…Dru…" he paused…Looking over at Margaret smiling warmly at him…Hope your friends in England are nice…

"Well, later on that…It went well…Angel did nobly, for once, by her though…What?...No…Certainly not…Why would I be?...If I were to be a bit miffed at anyone it would be you, not her?...Well, Giles…You did try to kill me, post-soul…But no hard feelings, I understand your concerns…Well, how is she?...Good…Life in Rome suiting her?...Good…Yes, we were there…Me too, yes…But Giles, delightful as this catching up is…Yes, I saw her picture with His B in "People", they made a fine couple…Bully for them…Seriously, she deserves the best…Now, Giles…What I wanted to ask was…Giles, it's fine…Absolutely…Well, yes…She did cut my hands off…But vampiral regeneration is quite efficient and W-H had a crack team…Including our own Winifred…Yes, Burkle…Yes, that one…Yes, we were miffed, she was the finest person next to me mum I ever….No, not a slip of the tongue, Giles…I loved her and I knew her faults…Giles?...Giles, what do you want from me, you tried to kill me because you thought I'd throw Buffy off her stride…Now you're troubled that I seem a bit distant from her?…I've a life of my own, Giles…No, right…Unlife…But it's still mine…Anyway, I'm glad that Buffy's settled with the Immortal and I've no desire to bollocks that up…Now as to my own matter…No, I don't need you to give me a mailing address, however secure…Giles?…Right, my nobility shines…But what I do need is access to your archive vaults…There's a Slayer I need to look up…What?..." he frowned, pulling back… " I just need to know a bit about her…Who?...Never heard of her…"

Oh…Margaret frowned, eyeing him… "He just lied…William, why did you lie?..." Kolchak eyeing her then Walthrop…

Tough job preserving the sanity of former psychos with no memory of their past but a lot of residual odds and ends popping up at the worse times…

"Any way the one I want is Brigitte Helm…Yes, the actress and Slayer…Yes, the one in 'Metropolis'…Just interested, I may do a story about her…No, as an actress…See, I met her once…I just need to review a few facts about her…Can you get me in?...Great…I could be there in three days or so…Great…What?...No, I tole you, doesn't ring a bell…"

William…Margaret, frowning… "I can always tell somehow when he's fibbing…"

"I used to be good at that myself with certain types…Before I gave up legwork…" Kolchak grinning…

"Now you're the one fibbing, Karl…" Margaret frowned, smiled… "You'll never be chained to a desk…"

"What?...Giles, I just tole you, there's no need…" Suddenly 'dad' wants me to see 'his little girl'?...When did I become an acceptable dating choice…? "Fine, yes…Dinner would be great…But you're not going to…Good…No…I'd love to see her…Sometime…Just right now, I'd say it was best to let her enjoy her new beau undisturbed, don't you think?...Thanks, nobility is my middle name, next to Soames…All right, seven on Thursday…And the archives?...Good…Oh, I'll be bringing a colleague, quite human…"

"Maybe not…" Kolchak noted to Margaret… "Hey, Will…Make that two humans…"

"What?...No, someone just speakin' to me…Just a mo…." Will put phone down… "Two?..."

"Ever been to England, Maggie?..." Kolchak grinned to her…

"Oh…" she beamed… "Not since my parents brought me over…"

"Now wait…" William tried…

"We need secretarial and research support…And I don't want Maggie assigned to some one else while we're away…You'll come, right, Mags?...And we've funding for her…" Karl eyed Will…

Not a good idea, Karl…Will's look replied…

I'm pledged to keep an eye on her…Karl's returned…

"I'd love to go if the agency can approve it…" Margaret, eagerly…

"Fine…Wonderful…" Will nodded, returning to phone… "Sorry make that two humans for the archives and dinner, Giles…Our assistant Margaret Waverly is coming as well…So that will be Karl Kolchak, my editor, Miss Margaret…Yes, Giles…"

Thank God he knows…That would've made for an interesting dinner party…

"…Waverly…And William Soames Walthrop, yours truly…Thanks…What?...No…" pause… "Well, yes…Tell her I wish her the best, as always…"

"That girl…" Margaret noted to Karl…Who nodded…Both looking out Kolchak's battered office door and over to the framed photo on Walthrop's desk…

"Wish she'd make up his mind for him…" arch look at Karl who grinned back…


	4. Chapter 4

"The Metropolis Story…"

Archived at the Buffy Rebecca verse, . You might want to take a gander at the Cicelyverse page to get a handle on the Cicely Addams material... .

Disclaimer: All BTVS characters remain the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, and all other owner/creators of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series...

Summary: Poet/Champion turned reporter/Champion (the vampire thing was involuntary) for the second least respectable news organization in Metropolis, William Soames Walthrop is assigned the job of uncovering the mysterious silence of a famed, deceased silent film star of the great film inspired by the greatest city on Earth. Both the other reporter/Champion and other reporter/seedy investigator of things mysterious in town hate his guts.

Part V…

Theme from "The Night Stalker…"

A dark street, with a single flickering streetlamp…An abandoned car, rusting slowly away by the curb corner…An antique cast-iron fence, rising to seven feet, blocking access to the city's oldest cemetery, final haven for both the long-forgotten elites and the never-known…Light rain with mist obscuring some of the less appealing aspects of the scene, both in the few human derelicts and the debris scattered about…

A lean, intense man, in battered but jaunty hat, worn, badly wrinkled, white suit, striding along…Eyes alert, ears keen…No need to see the grubby "press" card showing out of his breast pocket…This is a born reporter…

But no scandal involving some crooked pol and his mistress in a sordid rendezvous or a sinister meeting of underworld types…Human, that is…Has brought him out here, against his better judgment, but in full alignment with his journalistic instinct…The story here is not of this sad, dirty, dangerous world…But the even sadder, more dangerous, and often much filthier, next…

Yes, in contrast to every fiber of his practical nature he seeks proof of what cannot be…Of things others would insist are best left filed "Unknown" and even better, unspoken…

He stiffens at the sudden growl coming from behind the iron fence, further down the street…Close to the entrance to the old cemetery…

Some…Thing…Is there…

Waiting…

Sensing…

The Thing he's been seeking…He's little doubt…Pulling out a cross from his suit pocket…

"Karl?...That, you?..." a voice calls… "Could ya give me a little help here?..."

"Liam?..." the reporter peers to see the tall figure in black now emerging from the cemetery shadows…Carefully leading another figure, smaller…Slighter…

Female…And the source of the growling…In that she continues still…

"Is that?..." Kolchak eyed the figure firmly held in Angel's grip, struggling rather feebly…Clearly fearful of her captor and the new-comer…

"Yeah…" Angel sighed… "But fully human now, don't…"

His words belied as the female broke free with a howl and lunged at Kolchak, pausing at the sight of the cross…

Staring, curious…As Angel quickly stepped to protect the reporter, without blocking her view of the sacred artifact…

"See Dru?..." Angel said gently… "It can't hurt you now…I wasn't lying to you…"

"So…" Kolchak sighed to his "ace" and, sole, reporter, William, as they sat in his new office, door securely shut, despite the late hour and near-empty building… "Angel offered me the story, to print with false names of course, in exchange for helping 'Margaret' to a new life here…Since I owed him several times over from my previous LA escapades…And it was the story of a lifetime…Several, in fact…I agreed…Tony, on hearing my pal, the CEO of the new O'Connor-Wolfram-Hart, wanted to secretly pay the salary for his 'cousin' to break into the business, was only too happy to take on the free help with no questions…Angel's psychiatrists completed their therapy, with a little magical manipulation thrown in…Though she was eager to be free of the past…And 'Margaret Waverly' was born…"

"That was decent of you, Karl…" William nodded… "I'd heard Angel's version and he'd given you fair praise but it was a risk to take her on like that…"

"I knew the story… And all I did was help her settle in here and keep an eye on her…" Kolchak shrugged… "I kinda like a chance to help one of you escape, instead of always having to croak you and hope Heaven awaits…And she'd suffered enough, God knows…"

"Enough for several lifetimes, yeah…Are you sure she can handle this?...London's sure to stir up old, bad memories…Not to mention encounters with the Council, people she's met as Dru…"

"She has to face it all someday, kiddo…Besides, we've briefed your friend, the Chairman, and he's promised to alert everyone there…If something happens, well…You and I will be there to get her through…"

"My friend…Lets hope he doesn't plan to use her for some kind of experimentation on the long-term effects of vampiral possession…Or to see if his Slayers can be made to kill formerly Undead types who seem fully restored to humanity…A bit of field testing…"

"They play rough, eh?..."

"Self-appointed Guardians of Humanity…And they like to keep it that way…Still, Giles is a good enough egg, concerned about his girls almost as much as the Greater Good and all that…A lot of them treat the lassies as utterly expendable, so it's some improvement…"

"Tough life, if so…The ladies, I mean…"

"The worst imaginable…One I would not wish on anyone, much as I honor them…" Will noted… "The only release being death…As graphically illustrated in the case of our girl Brigitte…Death and peace, if they're lucky…Eternal Undead horror if not…"

"But she did better…" Karl eyed him… "And your friend, Ms. Summers, seems to be doing better…"

"At a price, far as the lady of our interest is concerned…And what that price might have been is really what the heart of this story is, I think…" William pondered… "Which is why we have to see what the archives hold to begin this…"

Kolchak nodded…But noting the clear desire to avoid further conversation on the living Slayer did not pursue that line…

"Well, we won't be spending much time with them in any case…Just poke through whatever they've got on our German lady and then…Berlin, I guess, eh?..."

"Best place, to start…" Will nodded… "And of course we should check out any family remaining, there's some in Switzerland…"

"She died, to be reborn free…Not a bad angle, Walthrop…" Karl smiled…

"All depends on the price paid, Karl…"

"Hey buddy…Ya wanna a dog?..." the vendor at the hot dog cart on the corner near the Planet Building, a middle-aged woman, bit hefty yet not unattractive at a glance, called to a Clark Kent just emerged from said building, glancing round…

Lois said she'd… "Uh, no, thanks…"

"I think ya could use one…Here…" she came over, holding out bun with frankfurter… "Pickles, mustard like you like…"

"What?..."

"Here, you idiot…" Lois' voice… "Just take the damned thing and come over to the cart…"

"You like…?" she switched voice and eyed him as he gingerly took the sandwich and managed a bite…

Hmmn…Actually, pretty… "Uh, very good, thanks…" he nearly choking as she yanked at him…

"Come on…" she hissed…

He followed her over…She regarding him in his trademark suit and overcoat, hat, glasses…

"Are you going over to stake out INS like that?..." she shook her head… "Why don't you just ask Will Walthrop to let you tag along as his comic relief sidekick?..."

"Well…" he paused, a bit sheepish… "I figured we'd be in a cab, waiting…"

"He takes the subway…Like a good reporter…" she frowned… "Haven't you learned anything about him?..."

More than you know or I could risk telling you…he thought, frowning back a bit…

"I guess we should do something to conceal ourselves…"

"No…I should…" she corrected… "You've no hope of covering up that Hicksville image…You're the bait, I'm the hunting dog…But forget the cab, stick to foot power…"

"But if you have this thing…" he eyed the cart…

"I rented it…The owner will come along and I'll just be another customer or tourist, out for lunch…Ready to trail while he's occupied dodging his 'nemesis' shadow from Iowa…"

"Lois…I don't want you going alone on this…"

"Then don't lose him…" she smiled… "But my money's on him losing you in ten minutes, tops…Clark…Either I'm a reporter working with you in equal shares on this assignment or I do this solo…I'll keep in touch…And if you do your job I won't be alone…"

He sighed…

Ok…

"Five bucks…" she eyed him


	5. Chapter 5

"The Metropolis Story…"

Archived at the Buffy Rebecca verse, . You might want to take a gander at the Cicelyverse page to get a handle on the Cicely Addams material...

Disclaimer: All BTVS characters remain the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, and all other owner/creators of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series...

Summary: Poet/Champion turned reporter/Champion (the vampire thing was involuntary) for the second least respectable news organization in Metropolis, William Soames Walthrop is assigned the job of uncovering the mysterious silence of a famed, deceased silent film star of the great film inspired by the greatest city on Earth. Both the other reporter/Champion and other reporter/seedy investigator of things mysterious in town hate his guts.

Part VI…

INS, Noon…

A somewhat unusual hour for the brightest star of the INS firmament, William Soames Walthrop, but given their departure time for London and the need to settle all final arrangements, he decided it was a necessity…Besides, he wouldn't be out and about at night tonight, probing the dark alleyways of Metropolis to sound and scour the city's underbelly, he noted to Margaret, carefully adjusting dark glasses as a staff member opened blinds at her desk…Carefully stepping behind her desk and pulling at his gloves…

A…uh…Slight accident in his apartment the other night…Doctor wants him to keep them till the burns heal in a week or so…

Just hope I put enough of this special sunblock on…It's worked every time so far but Wolfram-Hart has a nasty way of building special surprises into the little gifts it bestows on its underworld clients…And I doubt Angel has the QC science staff left to check every item they left behind out thoroughly…

An eager Margaret bubbling at her desk…London, Berlin…My goodness…Even Geneva…She'd never thought a chance like this would come her way…If only she could find a few documents or photos back at her place to bring for reference in tracking her family down while in England…There surely must be a few cousins, etc left…

And of course, she happily noted…Only the slightest hint of coyness in her glance at the object of her affection…A wonderful chance to travel with her two favorite men…Coworkers…

"Well, no one deserves it more, sweetheart…" he smiled at her…

Probably wouldn't do harm at that to help her find a few relations…Stability and all that…And the Waverlys must still have a few branches Angelus or Dru didn't track down and rend limb from limb…Angel could provide any covering docs needed…

Assuming this gunk works and I can move about to any extent by day…He winced as another window blind was raised, jumping as the whole rotted thing came loose at the staffer's pull, leaving the window wide and sunlight flooding in…

"Will?..." Margaret came out of the clouds to regard his stricken face…Gloved hands instinctively raised…

"Anything wrong…?" Kolchak, coming out of his office, peering at the two…

"Not used to the daylight from all the night hours…" Margaret nodded sagely at Will who sheepishly felt his unburned face…

Ok…No need for a mad dash to the decrepit washroom…

"I guess so…" he shrugged, smiling… "But I'll readapt quickly…It's my nature…"

"I hope so…" Margaret, sternly but eyes twinkling… "I'll need a chaperone around town…And Karl doesn't like museums and such…Oh, Karl…" she happily picked up the tickets on her desk… "These just came in…" she handed them to him…

"Great…So we're set to go to the airport by three?...You two have your luggage?..."

"Packed, repacked, packed again…" Margaret sighed… "William though has practically nothing…" she frowned at the small travel bag by his desk…

"The hallmark of a good reporter…Travel light, pray there's an iron in your room if you have to chase someone down at a ritzy establishment…" Kolchak nodded approvingly… "Mine is even smaller…"

"You two…" she shook her head…

"But when milady needs an escort to the ball, we will be ready, eh, Will?..."

So long as Angel continues to barely keep O'Connor-Wolfram-Hart afloat to pay the bills, yeah… William nodded, smiling…

"I still can't believe these are first class…" Margaret shook her head at the tickets…

"INS has its priorities in the right place…" Kolchak, sagely…Glancing over to where Tony Vincenzo, standing by his office door, was in turn eyeing him…

"His Master's glare…A moment, kids…" Karl patted Margaret on the shoulder and headed over…

"Don Vincenzo, what can I do for you?..." he addressed Tony…Vincenzo waving him into his office, smiling benignly at Margaret and Will…

"You could turn those tickets in for coach and donate the proceeds to INS…" Vincenzo, low voice, sourly…Closing door…

"If Connor wants to make his cousin happy, it's his business, to your considerable profit…"

"Fine…Ok, have you two got a plan?..."

"Hit London, determine what we can there, hit Berlin…Maybe try the Lang estate and any of Ms. Helm's German relations if we can…Then Geneva and to the ancestral stomping grounds…"

"Good…But remember…" Vincenzo frowned… "I want my star reporter back intact…Once all's blown over there's a million stories just waiting in the underground for the taking…"

"Stories I put you on to, lets remember that Don Vincenzo…" Kolchak frowned…

"Sure, sure…You boys make a great team…And I want both of you back and on the job asap here…So do what you can but don't take any unnecessary risks…Meaning…No crazy risks for some crazy story, ok?..."

"I'm touched Tony...And I understand…After all, we wouldn't want that golden river from LA to suddenly dam up…I understand it's just about the only thing keeping us up now…"

"Just get him back in one piece, Karl…Ok?..."

"He'd dissolve, not break, Tony…"

"I didn't hear that…" Vincenzo insisted… "You remember our agreement…So long as he does his job and keeps out of trouble…As in mass murder, anyway…I don't want to know…"

"Your compassion for the victimized is limitless, my Don…As is your capacity for spicy Italian…"

"Get out…Bring me that story…And Walthrop back safe…And show the kid a nice time…"

"Why Tony Vincenzo…" Kolchak grinned…

"What?...She's a nice girl…The rest I don't want to know…Treat her like that or you'll lose that new office…"

"Goodbye, Tony…"

While there's something to be said for being able once to sit quietly in a coffee shop and watch Lois at work, Kent thought, sipping coffee in the little café across from the rather less than magnificent edifice of the office building in which INS currently resided…

This could be a long wait, given what I know about Walthrop's nature…Even if Lois had established that the "man"(?) had left home and shown at work at a surprisingly early hour for him…

"My sources…You don't need to know more…" she, still in hotdog vendor garb had hissed to him at his questioning stare when she'd insisted they'd need to head over to INS earlier than planned…

I don't need to know more?...I'm supposed to be running this operation…

"Mr. Kent?..." young Jimmy across the table, in for "consultation" as to his work on following the alien possession story to its conclusion…Consultation as in "what the heck do I do, Mr. Kent?"…

"Hmmn…Oh, sorry, Jimmy…Well, I want you to keep close by the hospital, get any information on the nature of the creatures you can from the staff…I mean people like the nurses, orderlies, techs…Folks who may have seen something not reported to the public…And of course be ready to get a statement and photos if either or both of the ladies come out of their comas…And if they do, call me…"

Especially if they turn out still possessed and insist an alien battle fleet is enroute to Earth…

"You know how to do this…You're a fine leg man…." He beamed at Jimmy who returned the smile…

"Thanks, Mr. Kent…I'll do my best…Are things goin' ok over here?..."

"No action so far if that's what you mean, Jim…I think you really have the choice assignment on this one…"

"Well, I'll be on my way, sir…Thanks again, Mr. Kent…"

"No problems, Jim…Jim?..."

"Sir?..."

"Camera?..." Kent pointed to Olsen's camera on the table…

"Oh, golly…Sorry, Mr. Kent…"

"Just call in to me at four, Jim…And any time you think you need to…"

"Thanks…Give my best to Ms. Lane…" Olsen scooped up his camera and headed out…

Probably does have the better assignment at that…Kent sighed to himself, scanning the INS building…Well, the building they occupied two floors of…

I suppose though, really, I should give Walthrop more of a break…The man…Unman…Is a hero, after all…World-saving league…

Even if all too well aware of…Hmmn…

More activity than I thought, soon than I thought…He eyed the office tower, his super and X-ray vision allowing him to see into the lobby where INS famed reporter and new minted assistant editor Karl Kolchak and his protégé, Walthrop, along with a rather sweet-looking young brunette…All carrying bags, Walthrop a bit loaded with them…Stood, chatting…

Looks like they're heading somewhere…I wonder if Walthrop's bound for his stomping and former killing grounds in California…

Well, a chance to really use my expense account…

Best to get in position and alert Lois…He stood up, leaving some money for his coffee, and headed out quickly…Crossing the busy thoroughfare quickly, he was upon Lois as she tended to a customer who wanted to know why she didn't understand the concept of double relish…

"I gave you double relish, pal…" she told the man…Eh, the man groused at her, stalking off…Eyeing the tall fellow with glasses who'd come their way and was now giving him a rather startlingly stern look..

"Lois?..." Kent addressed the "middle-aged" hotdog vendor…She glaring after her patron…

"What?..." she hissed… "Are you out of your mind?...Don't use my real name…"

"I think Walthrop and Kolchak are going somewhere…They're headed out…"

"What?..." she stared…Looking round…No sign of them…

"How would you know that?..."

"I've my own sources…Can't go further, you understand…" arch look…

"Uh-huh…So where are they headed?..."

Stare…

"Well, that I don't know…I guess they're keeping it a secret…"

"Uh-huh…" sour stare…

"Look, there they are…" he hissed…

"For God's sakes don't point them out to me…" harsh whisper… "I'm supposed to be a hot dog lady…Let's go…" she put cover over her boiling pan…Waved to a man seated on a beach nearby and eyed Kent…

"Well?...I'm following you, fishbait…Better make for the subway…"

"Actually, Lois…I think they're taking a cab…"

Kent unable to repress a slightly smug smile as they raced for a cab in pursuit…Avoiding Lois' glare…The cabbie eyeing them as they got in…

"I'm with him…You gotta problem?..." Lois frowned at the driver regarding her…

"Do I ever, Ms. Lane?..." the driver sighed… "Hiya, Mr. Kent…I suppose you want me to follow someone?..."

"Hello Jamal…Yes, please…That blue and white just pulling out…" Kent pointed…

"It's only that he's driven us before…" he noted to Lois' annoyed yet clearly crestfallen face… "It's a great disguise, right Jamal?..."

"Aces, Mr. Kent…"


	6. Chapter 6

"The Metropolis Story…"

Archived at the Buffy Rebecca verse, . You might want to take a gander at the Cicelyverse page to get a handle on the Cicely Addams material... .

Disclaimer: All BTVS characters remain the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, and all other owner/creators of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series...

Summary: Poet/Champion turned reporter/Champion (the vampire thing was involuntary) for the second least respectable news organization in Metropolis, William Soames Walthrop is assigned the job of uncovering the mysterious silence of a famed, deceased silent film star of the great film inspired by the greatest city on Earth. Both the other reporter/Champion and other reporter/seedy investigator of things mysterious in town hate his guts.

Part VII…

"Walthrop is going where?!..." the voice on Kent's cell phone incredulous…

"England, sir…" Kent repeated… "At least, so far as we can tell…And Mr. Kolchak appears to be going with him…So I guess we should wind up this story, sir?..."

And return to real news…He did not say…

Pause…

"Sir?..."

"I told you to stick to Walthrop like glue, Kent, and I meant that…Get a seat on that plane and don't ever force me to tell you to do that again…!" slam of phone…

Hmmn…

Wonder if that's a real desk phone or if he just uses an app on his cell for the effect, Kent pondered…

"He said to get on that plane…Didn't he?..." Lois, a bit smugly… "Told you…"

"I didn't say I didn't agree with you about that, Lois…" Kent, sighing… "Just that it does involve a lot of money…"

"Kent?...Are you the reporter in charge of this assignment?..." Lois eyed him…

"What?...Certainly…"

"Good…For once a little assurance…" she regarded him with amused surprise… "I thought you were going to say something like 'well, gosh gee Lois, I dunno, I guess so'…"

Frown…

"Even better…" she beamed, then returned frown… "Then act like it and take an opening from your editor most reporters on a story would kill for and charge two tickets to London on the Daily Planet…" she stared at him…He blinking…

"C'mon…Make me proud of you, Clark…" she cooed…

"You alright, Will?..." Margaret, concerned…William showing a definite aversion to even the possibility of light entering via the closed window she sat by…And not much more tolerance toward a chance of any rays via the others…Curling up in a ball between herself and Karl, coat wrapped round, hat firmly pulled low…

"He'll be fine…A little airsick…" Kolchak noted to an equally concerned flight attendant who'd noted William's condition…

"A little water, William?..." Margaret suggested… "Karl…" she indicated the flask he was carrying, which he'd sworn and a flight attendant had certified after demanding inspection as water…

"Oh, not this water, sweetheart…"

"Karl!...Is that booze after all?..." she hissed…

"No, the last girl checked, remember?..."

"I remember you have a way of getting around such ladies…" frown… "Give it here…" she grabbed it…

Hmmn…Smells like water…Though a faint hint of…What?...Perfume?... "Is this diluted wine, Karl?..." she stared over at him…

"It's just water…Blessed, dear water…" Kolchak noted…Sidelong glance to William…

Right…Will eyed him…

And you thought it necessary to bring holy water, why?...

"Uh-huh…" she took a swig…

"Wait?!...Dru…Er…Maggie…" Will tried…Grabbing…

Hmmn…She shrugged, handing the flask back…

"It is just water…Something about it though…Oil or something in it?..."

"It's special...Just a few minerals and such…" Kolchak noted… "A bit of sulfur…William is allergic, though, so best to have the flight attendant bring him some…."

"Absolutely…I get quite red and puffy…" William noted…

"Well…I'll go and see if she can bring you some…" Margaret rose…Moving across by Will, then Kolchak…

"Thanks, love…And forgive Karl for his lack of manners in not getting up himself…"smile to her, Kolchak frowning…

Thanks I get…

"Ok, what the hell are you carrying holy water in your booze can for?..." Will hissed, watching Margaret move up the aisle…

Well, no sign of her bursting into flames so…

Thumbs up for Wolfram Hart's Humanity restoration spell…For now…

"Just in case we run into some of your or Maggie's less than admiring colleagues, my friend…" Karl noted… "It's my understanding there are some where we're heading…And that quite a few who migrated to the USA and the other Americas vamoosed back on the collapse of Wolfram Hart, USA…Just a little personal protection for Maggie as well as me…"

"Fair enough…But just be careful using things like that around her…Her humanity should be set but you never know what buried memories a thing might trigger…Especially an Unlife-threatening thing like that…"

"I'm keeping them under wraps as much as I can…You gotta admit, this was the best place to hide holy water from her…" Karl grinned, jostling flask a bit…

"Right…Anyway, as to the mission at hand…And speakin' of poor Maggie…"

"I'm sending her on special assignment while we tour the Council's archives…" Karl, nodding… "I don't want her having to face a bunch of nervous Brits with crosses and crossbows…"

"And ten thousand plus Slayers to back them up…"

"Exactly…So she'll do some shopping in London for her poorly dressed boys…To make us presentable for Berlin and Geneva…While we see what we can learn about your old girlfriend…"

"Brigitte was hardly my 'girlfriend'…" Will sighed… "She and I had a truce and she didn't dust me, nor did I kill her…But that was about the extent of it…"

"That sounds like quite a relationship to me…Why?..." Karl eyed him…

"She or me…?"

"Both?...Why did a vampire and a Slayer who didn't fall madly in lust…Pardon…" he grinned at Will's frown… "Eternal, blessed, purifying love…Not fight it out?...And made nicely-nice?..."

"Circumstances…" Will noted… "And Spike, whatever my counterpart was…Was always a very practical fellow…"

"Clark?..." Lois hissed as Kent returned to his seat in coach…Having made careful surveillance of the first class area…Utilizing his abilities in X-ray to avoid having to annoy the flight attendants or risk detection…

"They're there…Talking about someone named Brigitte?..." Kent frowned, puzzled…

"How do you know that?...You didn't even go into the first class area…"

"I peeked and the acoustics are very good…"

"Great…Well, if that's the extent of your reporting and observational abilities…" annoyed glare…

"I got what I needed…And your idea of my pretending not to know where I was was pretty silly…"

"What?..." glare intensified…

"Pretty…Silly…" he replied… "And as your boss…Yes…" he eyed her annoyed look… "…your boss by appointment of our chief editor…I'm disappointed you came up with such a poor idea…"

"What?...!" slight choking sound…

"I'd guess you wanted Walthrop or Kolchak or their assistant, that nice Margaret girl, to spot me…Leaving the field to you…?" he smiled at her…

Narrow look…

"I thought so…" he nodded, leaning back… "Anyway, we now have a couple of leads…One of which you know…One…I think I'll keep to myself for now…Goodnight, Lois…" he closed his eyes, pulling hat over face…

Glare…Followed by slight yielding… "You're learning, hayseed…" she noted, leaning back as well…

"Just remember I expect to be informed on anything you pick up when you come back after sneaking up to try your own idea…But if you get caught, you're on your own…" he told her…Keeping eyes firmly closed…


	7. Chapter 7

"The Metropolis Story…"

Archived at the Buffy Rebecca verse, . You might want to take a gander at the Cicelyverse page to get a handle on the Cicely Addams material...

Disclaimer: All BTVS characters remain the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, and all other owner/creators of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series...

Summary: Poet/Champion turned reporter/Champion (the vampire thing was involuntary) for the second least respectable news organization in Metropolis, William Soames Walthrop is assigned the job of uncovering the mysterious silence of a famed, deceased silent film star of the great film inspired by the greatest city on Earth. Both the other reporter/Champion and other reporter/seedy investigator of things mysterious in town hate his guts.

Part VII…

En route to London…First class compartment…

"This is my first trip abroad so I hope you two won't mind if I say I'm trembling with excitement…" Margaret smiled at her two companions…

"Heck, my knees are knocking, sweetheart…Lord knows it's my first by first class…" Kolchak grinned… "And by the way, I will take another martini when the young lady comes by again…"

"What?..." he eyed the somewhat troubled-looking Walthrop… "You forget something…?"

If this be about Maggie, nows not the time, kid…He regarded William carefully…

"No, it's nothing…Just…I have this feeling we're being…" Will began…

"Is that Lois Lane?..." Margaret stared at the figure peering into the first class cabin…

"Mr. White?...Clark Kent here, sir…No, sir, nothing major…Well, except…Yes, sir, get to the point, I understand you're a very busy…Yes, sir…Walthrop is definitely heading for London, sir…On British Airways…And Lois and I…" Kent paused from the phone to look where Lois had again gone to peer into the first class cabin…

"Uh, yes…Sorry, sir…Anyway I just wanted to be sure we had your approval…Yes, sir…If Walthrop is going to London it should be obvious I should be on his tail…Yes, sir…Especially if INS is footing the bill…Right, sir…Ummn, sir… Should I contact the accounting office since we didn't have time to clear this through the travel…Sir?...Tell the airline what, sir?…That we'll do an expose on the terrorist threat posed by their shoddy and corrupt bagging staff, sir?...But…Yes, sir…The airlines always have shoddy and corrupt bagging staff…Anyway, sir, do we need to get accounting's app…Sir?"

Hmmn…He eyed the dead phone…

Lois still trying to peek at the quarry…Uh-oh…His view through the bulkhead revealed Walthrop and the others eyeing her…

"So Kent and Lane in hot pursuit of us?..." Kolchak grinned… "Nice…Always enjoy seeing that blowhard Perry White move a little closer to that fatal coronary…And after the Planet gets the bills for this little excursion…And finds out they've kept two leading reporters on a little special interest piece…"

"Karl…" Margaret, reprovingly… Then smile… "But it is exciting…Are they really following after us?...Both of them?..."

"If Lane, then Kent has been the history…We're the hot item at INS, sweetheart…Or rather, your boy there is…And the Planet's panties are in a bind over his big story…Well, and here I was thinking I'd be bored on this trip…" satisfied grin…

"They'll likely be a pain, chasing us all over…" Will frowned… "Still, it will serve them right…"

"Don't you think this story is worth following, William?..." Margaret, a hair disappointed…

"It's a polite way of getting us out of the public eye, love…Though I will admit I am a bit intrigued by Ms. Helm and her fate…"

"I think it's romantic and mysterious…It should be just up your alleys…" she eyed the two men(?) seated across from her…

"Yeah, I'm a sucker for romance…" Kolchak noted, calmly…Smile…

A smile that turned perhaps just a hair sad as Margaret turned back to a Walthrop, engaged in watching for further signs of their pursuers…

Hmmn…Thought for sure the Planet would've put them in First with us…He noted…

"Well, White was always a cheap bastard…" Karl shrugged…

"Nice to see ya made it to the trenches, boss…" Lois grinned at Clark who'd crept up to her… "I was beginning to think you'd opted for the stately reclining posture of an old fudd editor…"

"Lois, I came to get you…There's no need for you to be up here…They've already spotted you…Us…" hasty correction as she glared…

"Not a…" she began, with frown…Which redoubled on seeing Kolchak now openly smiling at her…Quick friendly wave…

"Damn it, he's spotted you, you stupid oaf!...Eh, great…Just great…Well, come on…" she hissed, fuming, heading back for her seat…

"Sorry…" he whispered with shrug, following…

"Might've known you'd blow my cover, farmboy…" she glared, harsh whisper…

"Sorry…" he repeated, sighing…

"Wonder what the poor people are doing back in coach…?" Kolchak teased…To Margaret's reproving look…

Karl…

"Well, whatever you say, Will, if the two most famous Planet reporters are following us, there must be quite a story here…" she noted, firmly…

"They're just trying to catch a rising star, sweetheart…" Karl shook his head… "I doubt they've any idea what we're about…"

"Agreed…" William nodded… "I wonder if it's best just to go back and tell them and see if they'll give up the nonsense and leave us be…I'm not sure I want the bother of having them fussing round us all the time…"

"Oh…Come on, Walthrop…" Karl grinned… "Don't deprive me and Margaret of a little fun seeing Lois make eyes at you while Kent stumbles round after her…"

"You think she likes you, Will?..." Margaret, trying to be casual…Somewhat urgent tone…

"Me?...Lois Lane?...Please…I'm just a steppin' stone on the career path to her…" William rolled eyes…

"She is rather pretty…" Margaret, archly…

"If she's half the reporter she's trumped up to be, it's Karl who holds her fascination…" he noted…

"I do reel them in, don't I?..." Kolchak grinned…

"Though even the great Kolchak should beware that maneater…She'll pick everything she can on journalism out of your brain and leave you bleedin' on the pavement, Karl…And having been there…" Will noted, with sigh…

"Oh…" Margaret, frowning… "That's hardly gentlemanly, Will…She seems a very nice girl…When we met at that reception three months we talked and talked and got on…What?..." she eyed the two regarding her…

"Maggie…Lois Lane doesn't engage in chit chat without a goal of ferretting out anything she can…She was pumpin' you…" Will noted…

"I know that…I'm not a fool, Will…" she frowned… "But she was nice about it…And I didn't tell her a thing…Given you two never tell me anything…"

"Only because we treasure our Maggie's innocent nature…" Karl smiled…

"Ditto…" Will nodded…

"Just for that I ought to hook up with her and divide this one between us…" Margaret shook head… "You two…You'd think sometimes I was some sort of other-worldly creature who needed to be protected from a harsh world…"

"Our blood-and-guts Iron Maggie?...Never…" Will teased…

"I only wish we could…" Karl noted, rather wistfully…

"So, what do you want to do now?..." Clark eyed Lois, who'd taken her seat beside him…Still glaring…

"Try to get a little sleep and forget this fiasco…" she glared…

"Sounds good…I'll keep a lookout for the first watch…"

"You do that…" sarcastic tone…Lean back… "And don't play the movie too loud…" she put on a mask, covering her eyes…

"So she left you bleeding on the pavement?..." Margaret, clever look at Will…Taking advantage of Karl's combination bathroom and peer at the competition jaunt…

"Lois?..." William, innocently…

"You know who I mean…" reproving tone… "That one…"

"Which what?..." he asked…

"Fine, don't talk about her…" she shook head… "But one day you'll have to either face her or forget her, Will…And I don't mean to butt, but…I don't like to see you spending your whole life refusing to make the choice…"

"Well, if there had been a choice to be made…And such a person as you insist on believing in…I would say it's hers to make, not mine…"

"She might love you and not realized it when you were together…Nothing ventured…" she eyed him…

"It's not the gain I fear but a permanent loss…But love…" wan smile… "Lets leave it to the Fates, eh?...I promise when she shows up on my porch step, I'll make sure you get a telegram…"

"I'd prefer not to spend my life waiting for one…" she said, quietly…Hard stare…


	8. Chapter 8

Pardon, this and other tales may sit a bit as I must go abroad for work for a while and can't say as to access. I will try to squeeze in more as I can. Yours, Robert Gertz


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